At this moment, Nagato was feeling very restless.
After all, no matter how strong the Akatsuki Organization was, they only had a few members, while their enemies were the entirety of the Five Great Nations. This naturally made him feel quite anxious during this period.
There was no other way!
Despite how he often referred to himself as a 'God' when out in the world, the truth was he knew his own situation best. Although his Rinnegan abilities were incredibly powerful, the problem was that his body simply could not sustain high-intensity combat.
Take the capture of the Eight-Tails Jinchuriki as an example. Although a single 'Planetary Devastation' seemed to have sealed the Eight-Tails, the reality was that while he hadn't reached his absolute limit, he had significantly overextended his already riddled and broken body.
If he had to undergo a few more battles like that, or if the duration of the combat was extended, he really might not be able to hold out.
The Akatsuki Organization seemed peaceful now only because they were hiding in the Land of Snow, and the Five Great Nations temporarily didn't know their whereabouts.
Should the Akatsuki base be exposed and the Allied Shinobi Forces march upon them, he truly had no confidence in being able to withstand so many people.
Meanwhile, on the other side.
Just as Nagato was contemplating this, Black Zetsu continued speaking in a sinister tone: "I have received more bad news. Pain, after you sealed the Eight-Tails Jinchuriki that day, another group of people wearing the standard Akatsuki uniform killed the Fourth Raikage of Kumogakure!"
"Kumogakure is now practically crippled. Konoha seems to want to stand up for them and has announced the immediate formation of the Allied Shinobi Forces."
"Given the current situation in the Ninja World, it likely won't take long for the formation to be complete. At that time, they will surely put great effort into searching for our Akatsuki Organization."
"The Land of Snow may be remote, but if the Allied Shinobi Forces are fully formed, it's only a matter of time before they find us."
"Time is running out for us. We need to think carefully about how we will face the arrival of the Allied Shinobi Forces."
Black Zetsu's voice was low, and his eyes were filled with worry.
There was no choice!
To save his mother, he had planned for a thousand years just for this moment.
According to his original plan, unless all nine Tailed Beasts were successfully collected, the Akatsuki Organization was absolutely not allowed to be exposed to the public eye too early.
But what about now?
Because of a single error in judgment by Nagato, Orochimaru's return to Konoha also completely exposed Akatsuki's schemes.
Since then, the situation had spiraled out of control.
Even he, the great mastermind behind the scenes, didn't know what to do for a moment.
After all, the current Akatsuki had no way to resurrect the Ten-Tails and simply lacked the qualifications to challenge the entire Ninja World.
However, the threat of the Allied Shinobi Forces was imminent. So, should he really use Edo Tensei to bring back Uchiha Madara now?
To be honest—he was unwilling!
Because Uchiha Madara was too arrogant, unlike Obito and Nagato, who were so easy to manipulate.
If Uchiha Madara stayed in the Ninja World for too long, who knows if he would notice certain issues? At that point, his thousand-year plan could go wrong.
He was only able to fool Uchiha Madara back then by taking advantage of the fact that the man was old and his energy was far from the vigor of his youth. Furthermore, Madara was only focused on planning for a successor at that time, which allowed Black Zetsu to find a way to trick him into following his designs.
But if he brought Uchiha Madara back with Edo Tensei, Madara's soul would be in its prime. He might be able to fool him for a short time, but over a long period, even Black Zetsu didn't have that confidence.
And that was only the first point; the second point was the Rinnegan!
Although Nagato had nurtured these eyes for many years, Nagato was not of the orthodox Uchiha bloodline. As a result, the Rinnegan had not been fully matured. With a Rinnegan of only this level, it would be very difficult to cast 'Infinite Tsukuyomi'... If he brought Uchiha Madara back via Edo Tensei now, could he still continue to manipulate him for a long time?
So, sigh!
Thinking of this, Black Zetsu couldn't help but let out a helpless sigh.
Uchiha Madara was the last card in his hand. He really didn't want to use it until the critical moment, but the current situation was forcing his hand!
There was no other way!
Black Zetsu's own abilities were actually quite average. Although he could investigate intelligence from all the major hidden villages in the Ninja World, his actual planning and calculating abilities were quite mediocre. Otherwise, he wouldn't have spent over a thousand years just to come up with something like the Akatsuki Organization.
Therefore.
He didn't see through Uchiha Jin's true purpose. Jin merely wanted to use the Akatsuki Organization and essentially had no intention of directly destroying it.
Thus, in the current situation, a terrified Black Zetsu naturally began to wonder if he should play the Uchiha Madara card.
Regarding this trump card, Black Zetsu wasn't worried.
After all, Uchiha Madara's corpse was in his hands. Even if Konoha possessed the Impure World Reincarnation Jutsu, Uchiha Madara could not appear without his consent.
Meanwhile, on the other side.
While Black Zetsu was struggling internally, the rest of the Akatsuki Organization had already erupted into a frenzy.
"What? The Fourth Raikage is dead?"
"I didn't expect the leader to be so powerful. While capturing the Eight-Tails, he managed to kill the Fourth Raikage as well!"
"But the coming situation is very unfavorable for our Akatsuki!"
"With our current capabilities, do we really have what it takes to deal with the Allied Shinobi Forces?"
"..."
The people present all began to speak.
But, unfortunately.
Although these Akatsuki members were quite strong, their planning and calculating abilities were quite pathetic; calling them fools would be an understatement.
Basically... none of them had a functioning brain!
Deidara only cared about his art of explosions, and Sasori was interested in almost nothing else besides his eternal art of puppetry.
Kakuzu only had money on his mind, and Hidan only thought about Lord Jashin.
Konan was a naive person. Although she seemed to have fallen into darkness, she was actually more like she was just going through the motions.
Unless Nagato told her to do something, she was almost completely passive. She wouldn't move unless pushed. What could you expect from someone like that?
Obito?
A mere 'Kenji' (idiot), he could be directly ignored.
As for the only one who seemed like a normal person, Kisame Hoshigaki, his brain was nothing to write home about either.
After all, he was someone who could be fooled by an idiot like Obito. Could you really expect him to handle things like planning, calculating, or strategizing?
Heh!
You'd be making things too difficult for him!
So, with no other choice.
The Akatsuki members practically scratched their heads and then helplessly looked toward their leader—Pain!
There was no other choice!
He was the best of a bad bunch!
Although Nagato was a chuunibyou youth who often called himself 'God,' his brain was at least among the most outstanding within the Akatsuki Organization.
Pain: "..."
Seeing the way everyone was looking at him, Pain also felt extremely weary.
Damn it, this is hard to endure!